At the age of six, Dr Dulcy Rakumakoe decided to go into medicine so that South Africans like her grandmother would not have to wait for hours to see a doctor. Now the CEO of 10 clinics in Gauteng, she has had to learn the business of how to make healthcare affordable.
First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
At Quadcare medical centres around Gauteng, such as in Alexandra and Edenvale, one can see a doctor and get basic medications for a base fee of R350. Profitability is based on high turnover and careful monitoring of processes and resources. The group hopes to expand to about 30 centres in the next two years.
Rakumakoe’s passion for making healthcare more affordable and streamlined started early on in her life, when she accompanied her grandmother to public hospitals. “Then you grow up later to realise that that is the story of many grandmothers … in the country; that is the South African story. People do not have access to health services.”
She experienced this first-hand doing her community service in a small hospital in North West. Having seen the pressure on facilities and the state of care, she opened a…
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